WorldSBK becomes third most popular championship behind F1 and MotoGP
WorldSBK has established itself as the third most popular motorsport series behind F1 and MotoGP thanks in large to a scintillating title fight between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.
The 2021 WorldSBK season was one of, if not the outright best we’ve ever seen as Razgatlioglu, Rea and to some extent Scott Redding produced an incredible season-long fight.
While Redding was ruled out of title contention with one round to go, the continuous back and forth fight between Razgatlioglu and Rea meant the title went down to the final race day.
The Pata Yamaha rider took the title in race one thanks to a second place finish as Rea went on to win both Mandalika races.
This season's title fight is fairly similar to that in F1 as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are separated by just eight points with two races left.
Out of the three series’ MotoGP was the first to be decided as Fabio Quartararo took a relatively comfortable championship win with three rounds to go, despite Francesco Bagnaia closing a plus 50 point lead down to just 26 thanks to wins in Portimao and Valencia.
Due to the unprecedented viewing numbers and excitement that WorldSBK generated in 2021, the series was able to stand out ahead of a ‘refreshed brand identity’ for next season.
A new logo has also been introduced as part of WorldSBK officials heading towards a more modern look.
Francesco Valentino, Head of WorldSBK Commercial & Marketing, said: "The refresh of our Brand Identity has meant a step further towards times to come, along with our fans, whilst preserving our traditional Brand Image made of passion, energy and spontaneity.
"A brand refresh is a major undertaking and we're pleased to have reached our goals: the need for a consistent and coherent visual language for all the channels our brand is present on was obvious.
"The evolution of our logo and overall Brand Identity remains true to our core values while assimilating the ways our fans interact with SBK™, watching it on TV, playing it as a videogame or enjoying it on social media. More than ever, we are making it exciting."
